When you have a heart issue, your doctor needs to know what is happening.  Is it a potentially life-threatening condition that requires immediate surgery, or is it something that might be treated with drug therapy?  OCT helps cardiologists figure out which is treatment is best and might help to avoid unnecessary surgeries.  If you do have a stent placed, OCT tells the surgeon whether or not they have placed the stent correctly.

Laser implications:

Cardiology OCT providers are using the Insight laser because of its optical quality, which leads to a great PSF (point spread function) and a resulting clear, crisp image with high contrast.  The long coherence length helps with both probe design and imaging depth, and the high speed allows a shorter pullback time, reducing the stress on the patient.

Additional general information:

1. http://www.sjmprofessional.com/Products/intl/Imaging-Diagnostics/C7-XR-OCT-Intravascular-Imaging-System.aspx
2. Cardiovascular Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) explained   

Additional technical information:

1. Combined MRI/OCT for image guidance of CTOs

OCT shows dangerous lipid-rich plaque.

New OCT multi-modal imaging.

Beginnings of a heart attack.

Heart attack vividy shown in OCT.

Stent placement is verified with OCT.

A cutaway OCT view.